Pius IX's deworming ritual continued, but he felt as if the sky had darkened. The others present also felt this, and looked up at the black swarm of insects obscuring the sun in the sky on its way.

At this time, Pius IX couldn't help but shrink his pupils, in fact, in order to ensure that there would be no accidents, he clearly ordered the surrounding farmland to be burned, and used the scorched earth policy to stop the insect swarm.

However, Pius IX overlooked that locusts are not human beings, and that they march far faster than humans.

The locusts can fly at speeds of up to 10 km/h and can fly for 3 days in a row, that is, they can fly about 720 kilometers in one flight.

Therefore, Pius IX has placed a ruthless barrier, which can be easily crossed by locusts.

So the holy city of Rome fell, and both the precious flowers and the carefully pruned trees became food for the locusts.

Pius IX even fled into Castel Sant'Angelo before the ceremony was completed, not because locusts eat people, but because the audience was scared away, and who else did he play.

"Oh! My God! There are too many locusts! ”

Even though they had fled into the church, the sound of locusts hitting the doors and glass could be heard from time to time.

Seeing the Pope's embarrassed appearance, the congregants began to pray, while the higher-ups descended to the underground chamber under the escort of the Swiss mercenaries.

Not only did the room have good wine, good food, but also beautiful women who had been waiting for a long time, and there was even a band and a children's choir.

In the face of the overwhelming locusts, Franz did not have much to do, because without a strong enough insecticide, pyrethrum was actually still not enough.

So all Franz can think of is chickens and ducks, there are not many ducks in Europe, but chickens are easy to find.

Franz owned many chicken farms of his own and was the largest chicken farmer in the Austrian Empire.

At this time, Franz didn't care whether it was a laying hen or a broiler, and directly transported a million chickens to northern Italy to fight locusts.

After all, the story of the chicken soldier and the duck general has not only been passed down for thousands of years, but is still used even in modern times. And not only can it eliminate locusts, but it can also fatten chickens and ducks and sell them for money, which high-protein chickens and ducks can't usually eat.

However, Franz's envisioned "quack killing" did not actually appear, and the ducks were extremely powerless in the face of such large desert locusts, and were even frightened to run around.

The locusts that live in the steppe areas of the east are not the same species as the African locusts that they face at this time, and the ducks do like to eat those small locusts, but they only like to eat locusts without wings, and they have little interest in adults.

Desert locusts are three to five times larger than steppe locusts, and are more agile and harder.

Moreover, the tsar locust will secrete pheromones to change its hormone levels, and even secrete something like phenylacetonitrile, which can stimulate the duck's body to feel uncomfortable.

In addition to phenylacetonitrile, locusts can also secrete hydrocyanic acid if they are large enough, which directly poisons most birds.

So the 20,000 duck farts that Franz managed to make up are useless, relatively speaking, the attack power of chickens is really not covered, but even a million chickens are helpless against hundreds of billions of locusts.

What's more, the locals have been making up their minds about these chickens and ducks, especially after the failure of the defense of the fields, and they have begun to make up for some of their own losses.

Other countries are also concerned about the locust plague, because French agriculture has failed for two consecutive years, and if there is another locust plague, they will have to import food from the United States.

Spain faced a similar situation, even worse than France, after all, the French had colonies and money.

But the Spanish government is really poor, and if the locusts come, they will have to catch as many locusts as possible and stock them up for the winter.

Northern Italy, which had long been an important grain producing region for the Austrian Empire, suffered an exaggerated locust plague that reduced production.

Vienna, Regency Council.

"Damn! We have to deal not only with a huge number of locusts, but also with a huge number of Italians! ”

There was so much going on this year that Count Kolarov clearly felt the pressure as Chancellor of the Exchequer.

The Poles and refugees in the north, cholera and crime in the pervasive, the border frictions and Swiss Yankees in the west, the Slavs in the east, the tsunami and locusts in the south, and the most difficult of all, the Pope.

Prince Metternich was also helpless, the Austrian Empire could not let North Italy go unchecked, but where was the relief food for more than 10 million people so easy to solve?

The Hungarians were so happy that Kossuth published an article in the newspaper calling for the starvation of the German thugs without selling a grain to Austria.

Franz couldn't help but complain while holding the newspaper.

"This Mr. Kosuth is still so naïve, and it should be the Italians who have suffered."

"Thank you for laughing. If the Hungarians really don't sell grain, then there will be riots in northern Italy, right? And have you forgotten that the Polish Restoration Army is preparing to revolt in September? ”

Adjani reminded, but she was not too worried about what would happen to Austria, after all, Franz seemed to be confident, and there should be a solution.

However, the former was so disappointed with the intelligence secrecy of the Polish Restoration Army, and all the plans were completely exposed to the enemy's field of vision.

You can get in with a few people who claim to be Polish regents, and you can even buy a full version of the plan for an uprising for a few florins in Vienna.

If they don't fail, it must be that the other side doesn't want them to fail.

"Rest assured, there is no need to worry about the source of food, and it is impossible for the Hungarians not to sell their grain, and those revolutionaries also have to eat.

As for the rebels in Poland, I think you know better than I what their virtues are.

But this plague of locusts did disrupt a lot of things, and it was far more destructive than I could have imagined. Why are chickens and ducks not so useful? ”

"You're not going to continue recruiting chickens and ducks to fight the swarm, are you?"

Franz scratched his head.

"I can't go to God like His Holiness the Pope, right? ”

"How do you know if you don't try?"

Adjani had a very serious expression.

"That'll do. Locust! Get out of my kingdom! ”

Franz raised his hands to the sky and made a very serious look, and Adjani was also amused, after all, the former rarely did such an outrageous thing.

However, the two people who were amused in Schönbrunn Palace at this time did not know that the locusts had actually suddenly turned around and flew to the Ottoman Empire after eating northern Italy

(It's not that Franz's words really worked, though, but that the locusts couldn't make it to the Alps, so they turned to the Balkans.)

There have been several major locust plagues in history that have taken such a turn, and the Austrians in the north have made countless preparations, and then the former does not come. ）

(End of chapter)